A Beginner’s Guide to WordPress SEO

Every month there are 44.5 million new posts on WordPress websites and with every post looking for the readers’ attention, how would you make sure people see your new content?

Fortunately, there are certain steps which you can follow to make your blog posts SEO optimized along with some useful WordPress plugins that can be installed to make your blog pop up on the front page of the Google Search Engine.

Keyword Research

The search engine is dependent on keywords when looking for a website and if you have the right keyword there with the right density you are doing it quite right. Use tools like Google Adwords Keyword Tool, Long Tail Pro, or Market Samurai for finding the right keywords for your content. Whereas, the keyword density should vary between 2% to 4% and if it exceeds 5%, you are in danger zone which means Google might penalize you!

Optimize Page Title & Meta Data

Every web page present on your website must have a unique title tag which should not be greater than 70 characters. In the same manner, keep your Meta description between 150 and 160 characters. The Meta data is basically for search engines which helps them in understanding your content. Yoast SEO plugin is very helpful for Page SEO.

Avoid Duplicate Content

Posting copied content from other website is violation of Google and other search engine Guidelines. If you think by posting other people content will increase your web traffic, you are fooling yourself. This copied content can affect your search engine ranking negatively as well as your domain authority. It is better to post less and quality stuff instead of bulk of copied work. Even if you have a trusted content writer working on your website, it is a nice idea to use a paid plagiarism website like Copyscape for your content before posting anything.

XML Sitemap

XML map lists all the URLs of your website in hierarchical arrangement. This sitemap helps search engines for better indexing of your blog. For WordPress users, the Google XML Sitemap is a great tool for making an XML Sitemap.

Broken Links Crosscheck

Dead or broken links is neither good for your readers nor for the search engines. This is because if the search engine isn’t able to pass through your links, they won’t be able to index the site. The Broken Link Checker is a great plugin for checking if your website has any broken link or not.

Image Optimization

Use keywords in ALT tag, use small file size, and give images caption and description. Since a picture plays an important role in search engine optimization.

Make Use of Google Webmaster & Google Analytics

These two tools can not only improve your website overall but also improves the website performance on the search engines. Google Webmaster may be used for removing 404s error, fixing bad links, submitting sitemaps, and for site links creation. You may also check the sites that are linking to yours and the keywords for which your site is ranking for.

Analytics may be used for finding the amount of visitors your site is getting, the keywords used by different visitors to reach your website and what site pages they are visiting. You can also see the average time a reader spends on your website and the traffic sources.

Make Robots.txt file

This file is made is the website’s root directory and helps in website indexing and telling the search engine which site pages it can see and which it can’t.

Website Speed

The faster your site loads the better ranking it would get in search engines. You may use W3 Total Cache plugin to your WordPress site. If your website images are optimized the more quickly your website will load.

Zainab is a telecommunication engineer from Islamabad, Pakistan having a flair for writing. She loves to read and write on technology and is blogging for years. Among her other favorite past times are photography, crafting, and reading.